


falling together

by battleshidge (Amiria_Raven)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, birthday fic, canon-verse, friends to something more, kallura, kind of stream of consciousness, mutual affection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 16:30:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10948371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amiria_Raven/pseuds/battleshidge
Summary: There isn’t time for exploring their deeper interpersonal relationships in the midst of a galactic war that defines the fate of all living creatures, and they know this all too well.





	falling together

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rhapsodyinpink](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhapsodyinpink/gifts).



> So my original idea for a birthday fic for the fabulous Priya turned into what will eventually be roughly a 15 chapter monster (it's already outlined and everything, y'all), and I did not have time for that right now between a big bang and work and everything else, so I found this one that I started a while back and decided that I should wrap it up. 
> 
> I'm bad at gifts, babe, but I hope you like it anyway! Happy birthday, and I hope you like the kallurasplosion that has been today. :)

They fall together so gradually they don’t even notice it at first.

The fate of the universe is the most important thing, after all, so they put any personal feelings or vendettas aside. It isn’t that hard, for a while, when Lotor’s multi-pronged attacks keep them in constant motion, barely giving them time for respite. There isn’t time for exploring their deeper interpersonal relationships in the midst of a galactic war that defines the fate of all living creatures, and they know this all too well.

And yet they fall together anyway.

 

Allura first notices when she wakes up with her head against Keith’s shoulder. She still has her tablet in hand, and as she shifts to sit straight it comes back to life. She tiredly skims the words and realizes they must have been in the middle of talking about alternative strategies based on a few of their previous maneuvers. She doesn’t remember even beginning the conversation, though, and she certainly doesn’t remember falling asleep against Keith.

She watches him for a moment after sitting the device to the side. The half-Galran paladin has dark circles under his eyes and his hair is in disarray, but she’s never seen him look as peaceful as he does when he sleeps. Allura wants to keep watching him, but shakes her head and reaches forward after a few moments.

She sends him to his own room with promises that they will strategize later.

 

Keith first notices when she’s the first person he seeks after a battle. He no longer searches for Shiro first, just to make sure he’s still there. He finds Allura, her face long and posture weary, and he reaches to place his hand on her shoulder. Her slender fingers come up to cover his, gently, and they both observe her screens silently. Keith has started to learn what some of the Altean characters mean, and when they have time Allura is more than happy to teach him more. But after a battle isn’t the time, and the silence they share is enough.

She seems to take strength from him, because she turns to him with a smile that’s stronger than she had seemed moments before, and she brightly quips something about starving, and the mood is lifted. He wants to let his hand linger on her shoulder, which is an odd urge for him and he immediately drops his hand in response.

His palm stays warm at the thought of her, and Keith wonders why.

 

Allura starts to understand more when he returns from a battle for once and  _ doesn’t _ seek her out immediately.

She waits for him in the bridge, eyes scanning her screens and diagrams and replaying the battle in her mind. The ticks turn into doboshes, and still Keith doesn’t come. Worry creeps up her spine, tingling the whole trek, but she lets her eyes take in all of her data once more.

If she doesn’t immediately show, the paladins won’t be concerned. She often takes a varga to gather the information for the debriefing and to calm herself a little. Sometimes two, though she prefers to get everything sorted in a more timely manner, when she can. Both the calming down and the gathering of information is usually aided by Keith’s presence, but she’s sure he has a reason for not coming to her side immediately. He usually does.

She’s just steeling herself to head out, nearly a varga after the battle, when she hears the soft mechanical whir of the door opening, the gentle  _ fwoosh _ it makes as it slides open. Instead of waiting for Keith to come to her side, Allura turns.

At the sight of the sling, her heart starts hammering.

“What happened?” she nearly whispers, then curses herself for that timidity. She casts her thoughts to the battle, and recalls a moment where she did hear a sound akin to a grunt of pain from his end. Red had taken a rather nasty hit, but he hadn’t spoken of any discomfort.

“It’s just a sprain,” he assures her, reaching out to touch her arm, gently, with his uninjured hand. His palm is warm, and she can’t help but reach up to cover his hand with hers. “It’ll heal in no time.”

It’s not an answer to her question. Not really. But Allura lets it slide this time, stepping forward and dropping her head to his shoulder. She feels him tense beneath her, but she feels a sense of comfort and security from being close to him, and all of her earlier tension drains. She is his opposite–completely relaxed here while he is stiff. But it’s alright, she decides. His fingers curl a little more tightly around her arm and she feels him lean into her, just a little.

He’s close, and he will heal soon. He always does.

She’ll think about what comes later some other time, when a war isn’t being waged and she can sort through these tumultuous emotions without feeling guilty for being so selfish.

 

Keith actually realizes what’s going on when he thinks that he’s failed her. When he hears a garbled shout over the communications channel in his helmet and pulls up a video feed of the control room back at the castle, his heart seizes when he sees a scuffle. Her white hair is flashing, and there is a hulking, distinctly purple figure bearing down on her.

He doesn’t remember calling her name, but he’s told that he does.

He hears her curse loudly in Altean and in what sounds like Spanish–Lance is definitely to blame–and then there is a loud thud and silence.

Keith panics.

The panic is fleeting but the  _ fear _ –the fear is real. It’s a white-hot pain, burning through his mind and arcing across his chest like an electric burn, and he has to bite back the urge to scream. He thinks he’d sound like a wounded animal if he did, because there would be no words. He’s lost her, he thinks. She’s gone, and it’s all his fault.

But then there’s another string of curses and she comes back into view, hair in utter disarray though she’s trying to tame it, and she looks back at the screens around her. 

“Paladins, what are you waiting for?!” she demands, in her haughtiest tone.

When they return to the Castle of Lions, he follows his post-battle tradition and finds her, but this time he pulls her immediately into an embrace. Keith doesn’t really understand why, but he knows that he has to make sure she’s real, that she’s in one piece. And Allura’s hands come back up to rest lightly on his back, dipping her head slightly to rest her forehead on his shoulder, and she breathes. Her breath is shaky, and Keith squeezes tighter. It’s in that moment that he  _ knows _ .

He knows that  _ his _ whole universe is the princess in the circle of his arms, and he decides to hold onto her with all he’s got.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked my first foray into Kallura, and as always you can find me on tumblr on my Voltron: Legendary Defender sideblog [battleshidge](http://battleshidge.tumblr.com) or on my main at [panda013](http://panda013.tumblr.com)!


End file.
